Ok, so after processing a number of transactions, and finding a couple issues/bugs (nothing major), I have decided to bring the site down for the weekend. My intention is to address some minor work-flow issues on my end and bring the site back up by Monday (Thanksgiving is in the way).

In the meantime, I want to thank those customers that tried out the service. I hope everything met (or exceeded) your expectations.

From my experience; if the merchant number provider doesn't understand what you are selling your application is denied, or you have to put up a large deposit.

Edit: I really do wish you the best. If you can keep your shirt on, and not get steamrolled by fraudsters, you will be running the single most important piece of 'Bitcoin machinery'.

Thank you for your kind words. Incidentally, I checked out bitcoin2cc.com today...nice work! I'm wondering if there might be some synergies there with bitcoingateway, eg providing my customers the ability to "cash out."

I suggest using automatic phone verification to the card number on file, and using www.iovation.com

I'll look into it. Thanks for the suggestion! I definitely imagine that something more sophisticated, similar to iovation will be necessary in the future.

In its current form, BitcoinGateway.com should be back up this weekend. After that I'll focus on a completely new version that will be fully automated and incorporate things like iovation (and perhaps more) .

Site is back up and accepting signups, however purchasing of bitcoins by credit card is still temporarily suspended (family time is eating into my bitcoin time ). Everything will be up and running soon though. Hang tight.

Hi, I'm interested in buying btc by visa, but I'm affraid to tell my card number etc to site without any real company behind and with unknown security policies. Do you plan to use some well known Visa processor to skip storing card details direcly on your backend? Currently I cannot use it or even tell my friends .

A "company" is a limited liability structure, designed internalise the profit but externalise the risk. And "policies" don't count for a lot. It's the actual "practice" that counts.

Got your point. But if somebody wanish my credit card I don't have any instance to appeal. I'm probably too much sceptical, but I simply use only 'trusted' providers like paypal (yes, paypal is evil, but mainly for sellers than buyers).

It is not anything personal against service itself. But where are credit cards stored? In Mysql on some cloud VPS together with many other PHP sites with SQL injections? Thanks, no...